Lunch Archive

Can a simple bowl of rice and lentils bring comfort to the distressed soul ? Yes, some food are like that, primitive in form and yet so nourishing and comforting. The golden pot of khichdi in which rice and lentils cooked together till they loss some of their individualistic character and become one are like that, the true comfort food ever known to man. Comfort foods are different for different people yet they serve the same purpose in life, that […]

The best things in life happens unexpectedly. Like this lime and lemony lemon grass chicken curry that has become very much staple part of our late summer meals. After days of scorching tropical Summer when first drizzle of rains touched the Earth, every life forms come alive, as if they are infused with fresh oxygen. This is also the time when the season changes, as summer transgressed into rainy days, it also brings dozens of its own maladies. Our food […]

Biryani – even the word sounds so delicious and exotic, smells aromatic and promises a royal treat of highly fragrant basmati rice and richly spiced succulent meat, dish that is fit for kings and nobles. Though the word “biryani” which is derived from the word “biryan” has its root in Persia, the dish is known to origin in India during Mughal dyansty rules. As the saying goes that “necessity is the mother of all inventions” so does the biryani which […]

Bengali’s love for fish is an universal truth and so much so that we are often stereotyped by rest of India as only fish and rosogolla eating people. While we love our fish and devour the rosogolla at the drop of hat, we adore our greens too, saag and vegetables remain integral to our daily meal. A Bengali meal can not be said to be complete without fish and vegetables and on some days, together they makes one – pot […]

Every coastal country has some secret seafood recipes that they are proud of, or that define their identity and bring exquisiteness to the dish, that highlights the local spices, the techniques and the fresh ingredients from the market. And country like Italy that boast of its long Mediterranean coastline has many such seafood recipes that define the taste of the region. While Italian call this bordetto- fish stew, French call it bouillabaisse and Croatian name it brudet /brodet. And I […]

Koraishutir dhokar dalna is a beautiful variant of the classic Bengali dish dhokar dalna. The spicy peas and lentil cakes are steamed and then fried in enough oil till they turn golden brown. You can devour them as a snack or make a curry with scented cumin-ginger paste which is a very flavourful combination of two ingredients and it becomes a backbone of many Bengali vegetarian dishes as we do not use onion and garlic with our vegetables. The essence of […]

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime ~ Maimonides In Bengali mythology and culture, fish has always been a delicious symbol of fertility, prosperity and abundance and it touches many aspects of ceremonial and ritual life. (~ Chitrita Banerjee) While fish is seen as smelly and gross food to many, Bengali marriages are not complete without fishes, there are many rituals where fish is […]

Gota sheddho / casserole of whole lentils and boiled whole vegetables – a tradition reborn again. Cultural diversity gives India a unique flavour and richness. Often with in the same community or region, the differences in culture, traditions, rituals and beliefs are so divergent from each other giving a different entity altogether. Like in Bengal, where Ghotis (those originate in West Bengal) and Bangal culture (people of East Bengal before partition of India) are so different from each other that we […]

Bangalore is warming up to the new flavours in food and with that comes new ideas to entice the food lovers of the city. From farmers market to santhe and lunch soiree’s at the budding bohemian style cafes, the city is buzzing with lots of activities centered around food. The organic and healthy grains always scores better than the regular ones and looks very lucrative and the burlap covers somehow attested the seal of authenticity. This is a human nature […]

Do you remember that kindergarten rhyme- “My house is red a little house, a happy child am I. I laugh and play the live long day. I hardly ever cry. I had a tree, a green green tree to shade me from the sun. Under which I often sit, when all my play is done.” I wonder when I have read last such innocent lines. One of the classic rhyme, I guess and I was so much in love with […]

Fish kalia or rui / rohu macher kalia – a rich preparation of spicy and flavoured fish curry in Bengali style. Owing to the riverine geographical landscape of Bengal, fish always held a predominant status in Bengali’s life and culture. Much to the astonishment of many people, fish is considered auspicious here in Bengal. In marriage ceremonies, in festivals and pujas (religious practices) fish remains integral to our culture so much so that fish and Bengalis become synonym to each […]

Chingri narkel bhorta -spicy shrimp mash with grated coconut, little help from mustard paste and lots of green chilies and generous drizzle of raw mustard oil to induce the kick in it. “Bengali cuisine is all about aroma and reticence” and with that Amit Chaudhuri in his Telling Tales went on to describe his discontent and disappointment on the steady decline of Bengali food in modern days. How the beloved “hilsa, tangda and pabda” has changed over the years, and […]

Spicy pan-fried taro roots, nice crispy and coated in spices, with hint of tanginess to it which I am so fond of and how I wish I could replicate the smoky flavours of roasted taro roots or kochu as we call it in Bengali. Taro roots are monsoon produce but in my home these were never bought during monsoon because of me as I was sensitive or allergic to this roots. The monsoon rains makes it more allergic and I […]

Today I am going to blog about this – Striped Sea Bass in mild coconut curry, the new fish on my chopping block. Sea Bass seems to be very popular, most loved and favoured fish among the sea food lovers. But to us (read Bongs, few Bengalis don’t like this term) any fish that can not adapt well to the waters condiments of Kolkata can not survive on a Bengali fish platter. It has to first pass through the “Mustard Test”. So, […]

Eggplants, aubergine, brinjal, baingan, bengun or whatever you call it by any name, these purple veggie is my favourite among the others. At times I become little partial too. This is the one vegetable that had undergone lots of experimentation by me and had never complained. Take this eggplant biryani for an instance. Lightly tossed with fragrant long grain rice and burst of flavors from range of whole spices, this eggplant biryani is one pot delight, a light and quick-lunch. Serve […]

To all my lovely readers, thanks for being patient and I acknowledge that I have been missing in action for two weeks. So this week we brought you our family special chicken curry, the regular one, without any frills attached, very simple, basic and yet heart warming chicken curry. Of late I was busy with the interior of my new home. It is more of renovating and redesigning and accompanying the new things in our house. Most of the home […]

Hope you all had lovely Diwali holidays. As I was re organizing my book shelves, I have come acrossed few old cookery books purchased by my mother, yellowed pages, dog-eared and notes written on them with pencil. These envelop size cookbooks are written by none other than Tarla Dalal, the recipe queen of India who has created some 17000 odd recipes that never failed in the kitchen. She might not reinvented the Indian cuisine or brought some new ideas to […]

Sarodiya Subhechha to all my Bengali readers and Happy Navratri to those who are celebrating it. This space was silent for more than a week because of our re location to India. Frequent relocations are not good, I tell you, but it feels good to be back home again. In todays global world, however the word “home” has transgressed many boundaries though ! With a messy household and cluttered kitchen, my Durga pujo this year is far from anything that […]

If music be the food of love, play on. ~William Shakespeare In the midst of scorching heat, why I am inviting you to the bowl of hot and spicy stir fry ? Should nt I suppose to post few cool and calm smoothies, or salads or margaritas ! Yeah ! I love the last one. Unless my mind stops following the seasons or have some chemical malfunction in my head ! Or it could be that I have recently found an Oriental store […]

Lentils are protein rich source if served alone, but if mixed with vegetables becomes wholesome and nutritious. That is the reason I stopped cooking plain lentils, each time I cook the lentils, I try to make it more wholesome by adding vegetables or leaves or even nuts. Dalma is a medley of lentils and vegetables cooked together, incorporating each others taste and the spicy seasonings brings out the color and flavour in it. The name dalma instantly integrates one to […]